Flickr Picks: My favourite China related finds from Flickr, the photo sharing website. Click on the image to visit the photo's home page on Flickr.

avlxyz posted a photo of some yummy Chinese cabbage soup:

I don’t normally feature photos of food (they are very popular on Flickr), but this photo of Chinese cabbage soup really reminds me of food that is delicious, healthy and can only be found in China. Iconic Chinese food if you like.

This soup looks to be made of delicious pork chunks and Chinese cabbage (known as Baicai in Chinese) leaves. I can almost taste it! Chinese cabbage appears in many Chinese soups (and noodle soup) and for some reason it works extremely well. It tastes wonderful and is great for your health.

I know of a really good cabbage soup diet – the cabbage soup in the photo is a little different from the diet cabbage soup, but I think that this one of the reasons that most Chinese people are so slim. I’m sure there are plenty of other factors, but diet is probably the single most important factor.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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Recently, I was browsing a forum topic on the cost of living in China. I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to respond to question posed on the forum.

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Flickr Picks: My favourite China related finds from Flickr, the photo sharing website. Click on the image to visit the photo's home page on Flickr.

cogdogblog posted a photo:

Yes, they have Diet Coke in China. These days it’s fairly easy to get, especially in the big cities. However, when I first went to China in 2002, to a smallish city in Guangdong, it was almost impossible to get.

Having searched the city, with no luck, I tried asking for it in the Dynasty Hotel, which was to become our favourite watering hole. The waitress just couldn’t understand me, even with the help of my phrasebook and my miming.

After about 15 minutes of this, on and off, something went click in her mind and she brought me an ice cold can (yes it was cold!), just like the one in the picture and I was a very happy man!

Actually it was called Coke Light, not Diet Coke, which is the name which was used in Hong Kong for some reason. I’m not sure what it’s called in China these days. Obviously, it has a Chinese name, which you can see in the picture, but if you turn the can around, the other side will be in English.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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Flickr Picks: My favourite China related finds from Flickr, the photo sharing website. Click on the image to visit the photo's home page on Flickr.

poeloq posted a couple of photos of a small restaurant / food stall:

It looks like this small restaurant / food stall is serving steamed mantou (steamed buns) or baozi (steamed buns with a filling inside). You can see the stack of bamboo steamers in the picture. There’s a chance that it’s actually steamed jiaozi (dumplings), but it’s much more likely to be mantou / baozi.

For more information on mantou, check out Wikipedia’s entry on the subject.

Anyway, I really like these photos because they capture the subject well. There are thousands of small food stalls like this in Beijing and in other cities across China and they look just like this. Also, I’m a sucker for black and white photos!

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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flibblesan posted a couple of photos of Burger King:

Yes, China has Burger King (or Hungry Jacks as it’s called in Australia – but that’s another story).

Burger King is nowhere near as popular as McDonalds or KFC, which is the clear number 1 in the Chinese fast food market, but most of the major international fast food chains are present in China to some extent.

I’m a bit worried about the increase in obesity in China. There are a lot more overweight children in China now than when I first arrived in 2002. It’s a worrying trend.

Why is it happening? I’m pretty sure it’s related to the increase in Western dietary habits in China, ie fast food restaurants and snack food. There’ll be other reasons involved as well, but this will be the main reason. They should get Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me translated into Chinese.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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myuibe posted a photo:

Yes, that is a photo of a box of tea and yes, it is the Liptons brand. I’m not sure why myuibe took the photo, but it has relevance for me, because I used to drink it a lot when I lived in China.

They have the full range of different Liptons tea products. That’s the Lemon flavoured one in the photo above. I preferred the straight green tea option. You can get black tea too (although note that the Chinese call it Red Tea, because of the colour when you add water). I also took a liking to Liptons Milk Tea instant tea powder.

As for it being Liptons, well you can get almost all the major Western brands in China these days, especially in the bigger cities. Lays chips, Snickers Bar, Pantene Shampoo, anything by Nestle, you name it. That’s just the start. The big companies have moved into China in a big way in the last 5 years.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me. It was shared by a third-party on Flickr, under a Creative Commons license. For details on the license, see the photo's home page on the Flickr website.

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img_edv posted a photo:

A picture of some Chinese flat peaches, also called pantao, which are absolutely delicious. I’ve only ever seen them in China.

They look like you took a normal peach and squashed the top and bottom points in to a third of the size of a normal peach, with the rest being pushed out to the sides. They taste like a normal peach, only a little sweeter.

I’ve found that fruit often tastes better in China. I think this is because a lot of the fruit is grown locally and is therefore fresher. Or maybe because the supermarkets care less about the fruit looking great than they do in the West and more about the taste.

After searching the Internet about this, I found a site with lots of information on the pantao. They agree with me that it’s delicious:

A peach that is juicy and sweet—many say the best tasting of all peaches—and creamy with a pit that does not cling wrapped in a nearly fuzzless skin: I want that peach!

They also point out that they are also known as the Donut peach. Whatever you call them, pantao are fantastic!

The price is worth noting: 3 yuan for 2 jin (1kg). That’s an amazing price.

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This is another post I wrote a little while ago and haven’t posted until now.

China’s Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu) occurs on 5th May on the Lunar calendar. This year, that equates to 8th June.

As the name of the Festival indicates, it’s famous for Dragon Boat racing! People also eat zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves) and drink baijiu (Chinese wine) during this holiday. (more…)

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